That is how I have long referred to Slow, the Vancouver-based combo that gave the world the ‘grunge’ blueprint Have Not Been the Same and burned brightly for such a brief time that it left behind but one album, one single and a Christmas song. There was also a shocking performance that remains the only reason to ever speak of Vancouver’s Expo ’86, plus a tour that ended (as did the band) with the epiphany that driving across Canada to play gigs for less than gas-money kinda sucks.

It was, in so many ways, the perfect rock and roll career.

Last November, some 31 years on from that magnificent disaster, the members of Slow uncharacteristically quietly reunited for an unannounced live performance at a North Vancouver art gallery. Very-much-announced shows in Vancouver and Victoria followed, without incident. Last month, Slow reportedly entered the studio to begin work on a new album. There is talk of a tour. Against the Glass, long out of print, is once again available for purchase in your favourite format.

No. Those words describe one Ebenezer Scrooge. “He did it all,” it was said in 1843 of the renowned businessman and philanthropist, “and infinitely more.”

Today, one might therefore expect the name Scrooge to be associated with the most generous among us.

Consider as well, as the new year kicks into gear, the fate of one Mr. Grinch, who in Whoville is remembered for his community spirit and for carving a mean roast beast. You, however, are more likely to know him merely as the “mean one.” Continue reading →

I have toyed with that as one possible explanation for my year-long (!) absence from this here blog. If you like it, we’ll go with it. I have others. Like, um… Don’t pay the ransom! I have escaped!

I know it has been a while. I confess I have not fully kept up with events since my most recent post but I trust: President Clinton is doing great things for America; Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is still packing ’em in at theatres; Carey Price led the Habs to Stanley Cup victory; Canada’s antiquated “first-past-the-post” electoral system is dead; and, O.J. Simpson is continuing his dogged pursuit of the real killer.

I have missed the first two nights of the city’s gargantuan summer music festival. In the process, or so I’m told, I have been denied a “quiet” set by Joe Jackson and an “interesting” set by Dave DaviesNoel Gallagher.

I am determined that I will not miss a set by The Cult I anticipate will be neither quiet nor interesting.

It will, however, be wet. A day’s worth of precipitation has done the ground here at Le Breton Flats no favours. And here she comes again.

Indeed, as the 8 p.m. showtime approaches it has if anything gathered strength.

I awoke this morning to a reminder that, today, people around the world will “celebrate” the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare.

Cause for celebration? Many a high-school student may think so. Yet, surely, when it comes to loss of life, our celebratory spirit should be reserved for, say, the anniversary of the death of Hitler, or Cortés. Maybe Elvis, but that is more of a death-and-resurrection situation.

Yet death is much on our minds these days. The one certainty in life, it continues to shock. Ever more so, it seems. Continue reading →